An Irish musician performed a song Wednesday to the doctors and nurses at Northwell Health hospitals he says saved his life twice.

"It's the gift of life that has been handed to me - it's something that we take for granted that I won't take for granted again," Allen Gogarty says.

Gogarty first went to the emergency room at Long Island Jewish-Forest Hills in December complaining of severe back pain, nausea and profuse sweating. While there, the 48-year-old suffered a massive heart attack, leaving him without a pulse for more than 20 minutes.

"We started doing CPR, we realized he needed to be shocked," said Dr. Syed Iqbal. "We gave him three shocks during those 23 minutes when he was actually without a pulse. We worked very hard to get him back."

Gogarty was eventually stabilized, and doctors rushed him to the cardiac catheterization lab at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset. Doctors there stented two of his coronary arteries that were 100% and 90% blocked.

Gogarty is sharing his story about his close call with the hope of saving other lives.

"Definitely do not ignore any symptoms because if I had ignored my symptoms that morning, I would not be here," Gogarty says.

Two months after he nearly died, Gogarty sang to thank the health care team for saving his life.